1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a component separations system, and more particularly to a system for separating blood components from whole blood. The principles of the present invention may be applied in a centrifuge processing system or other extracorporeal blood processing systems.
2. The Prior Art
Flexible processing chambers (bags) for processing biological cells in a fixed volume centrifuge, and methods for use of such processing bags, e.g., by centrifugation, are known. For example, PCT patent application PCT/US98/10406 describes a flexible cell processing chamber having a rotating seal to keep the contents of the chamber sterile during processing (see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,048. Flexible processing chambers advantageously are disposable and thus suitable for single-use sterile applications.
For certain applications, such as blood processing including blood component separation, enzymatic conversion of blood type, and pathogen inactivation of blood components, it is desirable to remove portions of material separated by process, both light material and/or heavy material. Simultaneous processing of multiple separated material from the processing bag reduces the time and expense required to perform such applications. Present flexible processing chambers do not provide the ability to perform independent simultaneous processing of multiple samples.